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Berkeley Iceland Restoration Should be City of Berkeley Priority

Submitted by bi_admin on Sat, 2012-06-16 10:55

The Berkeley City Council now must decide whether the Berkeley community gets its first big-box store or the opportunity to restore the historic, community recreation ice rink. The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board approved the Sports Basement permits replacing the historic recreation use with a retail operation far larger than anything in Berkeley. In a community short on recreation space for its kids and families, this represents a very bad deal for citizens of Berkeley. Save Berkeley Iceland filed an appeal of this decision to the Berkeley City Council; date of the hearing has not been set but we will announce it when it is set.

The restoration of Berkeley Iceland as a public ice recreation center better serves our community than a big box, discount sporting goods store - even one as well meaning as Sports Basement. We need to let the City of Berkeley, Sports Basement and East Bay Iceland (the current owners of Berkeley Iceland - principally owned by the Zamboni family) - know that our community needs recreation more than it needs a large store in the middle of a quite neighborhood.  You can find a sample letter here that you can modify and send.

Here are some key contacts:

City of Berkeley Elected Officials:

The mailing address for all Berkeley elected officials is 2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704

Sports Basement:

Mailing address listed as P.O. Box 29570, San Francisco, CA 94129

East Bay Iceland [Current Owners]:

  • East Bay Iceland - Richard Zamboni, President  [rzamboni@zamboni.com] 7212 San Ramon Rd., Dublin, CA 94566